The internet has experienced an exponential growth of users due to the arrival of web 2.0. Web 2.0 is different from web 1.0 in many ways. One of the most distinctive difference is that web 2.0, for the first time, gives control to the users. This control enables user to generate and participate in the content creation and development of the internet. The users not only have control, but also ownership of their work.
As we move forward into an era of IPTV (Internet Protocol Television), this explosive growth of television viewers who are internet users are attempting to apply their internet experience to television viewing. As such, more users are coming to demand the experience in television viewing that they are used to on the internet, such as access to an ocean of digital media content.
Internet Video Link (IVL—for example Sony Corporation's commercially available BIVL™ or Bravia™ Internet Video Link, trademark of Sony Corporation) is a video streaming device that is able to connect to a multitude of servers in varying locations in order to provide television services via the internet. IVL provides a channel for the provisioning and enjoyment of internet television on any IVL capable video display device.